You are here

Jaredites and Olmec - the same?

Jaredites and Olmec

by Douglas K. Christensen

In 1941, Matthew Sterling and other archaeologists made the case for an ancient Mesoamericn culture that predated the Mayans. The culture was given the name Olmec, which simply means rubber men. It is a modern name; it certainly wasn’t what they called themselves. Ever since, the Olmec have been talked about in scientific circles, Book of Mormon students have asked themselves the question, “Could this be our friends, the Jaredites?”

They noticed that the Olmec were being called the mother culture of Mesoamerica. In the Book of Mormon, we see that the Jaredites were the mother culture of the Nephites. An example:

Mormon and Moroni are both Jaredite names, so you can see that this mother culture, the

Jaredites, had a tremendous influence clear through until the end of Book of Mormon times.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate what connections there may be, then draw conclusions as to whether the Jaredites and the Olmec are the same.

What criteria are we going to require to locate the Jaredites? Most of the references are found in the 15th Chapter of Ether, Does this area fit the geographical requirements

set forth in the Book of Mormon? (Ether 15:11,

Jaredites and NephiteJaredites and Nephitelived in the same general

area).

One of the important concepts that we

need to understand about the Jaredites and

the Nephites is that both were destroyed in a

civil war, and they were also destroyed at

exactly the same place. Ether 15:11 reads,

“And it came to pass that the army of

Coriantumr did pitch their tents by the hill

Ramah; and it was that same hill where my

father Mormon did hide up the records unto

the Lord, which were sacred.

Moroni is talking, and he tells us that the

hill Ramah, where the Jaredites were

destroyed, is exactly the same hill where

Mormon and Moroni were in the last battle of

the Nephites. And so the requirements for the

Nephites need to be in the same area as the

Jaredites, unless you want to postulate that

one or the other of those cultures traveled

thousands of miles to duke out their last

battle. Basically, we have to have the same

geographical requirements for the Jaredites as

we have for the Nephites, at least the same

general area.

2. Does this area have remaining cultural

traits and/or a written history, as described

in the Book of Mormon?

We also need to look at whatever area

we are postulating and ask if it has any

remaining cultural traits and a written history,

as described in the Book of Mormon.

3. Does the known archaeology of this area point

to a true civilization as described in the Book of

Mormon?

4. Are we looking at the correct time periods?

It is very important, as Latter-day Saints,

when we are talking with people who are

conversant with the earth’s chronology, that

we don’t talk about things that obviously

happened at different time periods, like

tectonic plate movement. Geology deals with

very different time periods than we are dealing

with here.

What clues does the Book of Mormon

give us for locating the Jaredites?

1. 344-day journey from the Great Tower in the

Old World to the New World (Ether 6:11)

2. Jaredites were a large people (Ether 15:26)

3. Jaredite civilization was in the “North Country”

(Ether 1:1)

4. Jaredites lived near a land of many waters

called Ripliancum (Ether 15:8)

5. Jaredites had a true civilization from about

1500 to 300 B.C.

6. Jaredites self-destructed in a major civil war

near a large hill called Ramah (Ether 15:11).

There are four commonly proposed

locations for the Jaredites.

1. All of North and South America, which comes

from Mormon apocryphal tradition

2. South America Cordillera

3 North American Eastern Woodlands or the

Great Lakes area

4. Mesoamerica

So what I would like to do is take a look

at each of these areas and see if they fit

1. Let’s discuss the theory that it is all

North and South America. It is 6,500 miles in

length.

Status During Jaredite Times (2000 to 300

B.C.)

Archaeology: No evidence of dense or even sparse

population covering this vast area.

Written history: The only written history is found

in Mesoamerica during this time period.

Scriptures: Accounts of Jaredite last battles portray

millions of people, but all in one relatively small area

(Ether 14 & 15)

Let’s take a look at the South American

Cordillera. The Cordillera consists primarily of

the west coasts of Peru and Chile. There was

a civilization that grew up primarily around

ocean fishing and farming on the plateaus

2. South American Cordillera

during Jaredite Times

Called “The Initial Period” by Archaeologists (1800 to

400 B.C.), the time period that would correspond to

the Jaredites.

Archaeology: Religious ceremonial centers and

large mounds were constructed until about 500 B.C.

when building came to an abrupt end. Use of

irrigation agriculture and ceramic pottery began about

1500 B.C. Population sizes were moderate, mostly

centered around irrigation canals and the coast.

Political organization was primarily kinship (tribal).

Tools were primarily stone. Very little evidence of

large scale warfare.

Written history: No evidence of literacy anytime

prior to Spanish conquest. Accounting, records,

plans, etc. were recorded by using knots in rope.

Scriptures: The geography requirements of the Book

of Mormon cannot be made to fit anywhere on the

South American Cordillera.

I am not going to go through the Book of

Mormon geography requirements in detail.

Most of you know what those are: a sea east,

a sea west, a narrow strip of wilderness, and

so on and so forth. The South American

Cordillera only has a sea west.

3. Eastern Woodlands

This time period, which is called by archaeologists the

Late Archaic Period, is 3200 to 1000 B.C.

You had three cultures that were living in

that general area. Yesterday, in our

discussion about minerals, you saw that there

were copper deposits in the Great Lakes area.

These deposits contributed to the old Copper

Culture, the Shield Archaic Culture north of

there, and the Laurentian culture. Southeast

of here were cultures, such as the mound

builders, but they are a little bit later on.

So let’s take a look at the characteristics

of the Eastern Woodlands during the same

time period as the Jaredites.

Archaeology: Three cultures resided in this area:

Shield Archaic, Laurentian and the Old Copper

Culture. They were primarily hunter-gathers living in

small extended family units. Very little evidence of

warfare or social government. Tools were lithic

(stone) and primitive. Some evidence of trade; there

was a little but not a lot.

Written history: No evidence of literacy.

Scriptures: No scriptures point specifically to this

area. However, many Latter-day Saints point us to

this direction because of early Mormon folklore that

placed the Hill Cumorah here.

Joseph Smith never did call the hill in

New York the Hill Cumorah. Others did that.

He never stopped them. He directed our

attention to Mesoamerica.

____

The south American Cordillera consists primarily

of the west coasts of Peru and Chile.

I am not going to go through the Book of

Mormon geography requirements in detail.

Most of you know what those are: a sea east,

a sea west, a narrow strip of wilderness, and

so on and so forth. The South American

Cordillera only has a sea west.

3. Eastern Woodlands

This time period, which is called by archaeologists the

Late Archaic Period, is 3200 to 1000 B.C.

You had three cultures that were living in

that general area. Yesterday, in our

discussion about minerals, you saw that there

were copper deposits in the Great Lakes area.

These deposits contributed to the old Copper

Culture, the Shield Archaic Culture north of

there, and the Laurentian culture. Southeast

of here were cultures, such as the mound

builders, but they are a little bit later on.

So let’s take a look at the characteristics

of the Eastern Woodlands during the same

time period as the Jaredites.

Archaeology: Three cultures resided in this area:

Shield Archaic, Laurentian and the Old Copper

Culture. They were primarily hunter-gathers living in

small extended family units. Very little evidence of

warfare or social government. Tools were lithic

(stone) and primitive. Some evidence of trade; there

was a little but not a lot.

Written history: No evidence of literacy.

Scriptures: No scriptures point specifically to this

area. However, many Latter-day Saints point us to

this direction because of early Mormon folklore that

placed the Hill Cumorah here.

Joseph Smith never did call the hill in

New York the Hill Cumorah. Others did that.

He never stopped them. He directed our

attention to Mesoamerica.

4. The Mexico Gulf Coast would be the

fourth possible area, so let’s take a look at

that. This is the map. The Olmec region you

will see if right in the Gulf of Mexico there.

Here is another map. You can see the

Olmec heartland is right in the Gulf of Mexico

area. This is the Veracruz and Tabasco areas.

Also, there is quite a bit of evidence of Olmecs

in the Izapa area, specifically Monte Albán,

and you can see those areas there south of

the Gulf of Mexico.

Archaeologists refer to this time period

as pre-Classic, early pre-Classic, or Olmec

period, and it goes for about 3,000 years,

from 3000 to 500 B.C. Really, prior to 1500

B.C., it is mostly prehistory. Most

archaeologists date the Olmec time period

beginning in 1500 B.C.

First of all, pottery was used extensively.

The Olmecs had many, many art styles and

were by far the most advanced culture in the

hemisphere.

There is evidence of extensive, organized

trade with trade routes not only through the

entire region in the Gulf of Mexico but trade

routes that may have extended as far south as

South America and as far north as here in this

area. They traded exotic goods as well as

staples.

Their food sources were the most

sophisticated on the continent. They used slash

and burn farming, and annual flooding near

rivers. They had the most varied diet in the

hemisphere, including corn, beans, squash,

pumpkins, fish, deer, turkey, and pig.

Archaeologists refer to the political

structure of the Olmec as “dynastic family

lineages of rulers who identified with deity,

and they ruled over the common people.” We

know of 21 colossal heads, nine of them

huge, the others smaller, and they may

represent some of these dynastic rulers. The

Olmec culture, and this is very important to

understand, did not go through formative

stages. As you read history you will see that

most cultures go through a trend line, and

they will gradually become more affluent, and

their art style will change gradually. This is not

the case with the Olmec. Prior to about 1500

B.C., there seems to be a very sudden change,

and all these things that we are talking about,

such as their art style, pottery, and so on,

came on relatively quickly.

The implications of that you can draw for

yourself. Mine is that there was an intrusive

society that came into the Olmec, regions and

they may or may not have been our Jaredites.

The Olmecs were certainly there before the

Jaredites came.

In art, there is an extensive use of jade

jewelry and statuary use of wood, basalt, and

jade.

They were highly advanced in the use of

mathematics, astronomy, and calendars.

They used the bar-dot system for recording

time. [Displays rock carving] This is the first

evidence in this hemisphere of the bar-dot

system. We used to live in Vernal, Utah and in

our backyard, we had some petroglyphs with

bars and dots on them. Now, whether they

came out of Mesoamerica or not, I don’t know.

Here are some other examples of Olmec

art. For their writing, you can see the glyphs

on the upper left-hand side there. They

feature both hieroglyphic and syllabic content.

Many of the statues had to do with

royalty and centered around royal persons, so

it is obvious that this culture had a lot of

reverence for royal persons.

Population: Large population clusters

lived in three major cities and several smaller ones

surrounded by villages.

Tools: Primarily made of obsidian,

including knives, awls, engravers, saws, scrapers,

smoothers, wedges, needles, polishers, and, yes, they

even made mirrors out of obsidian.

Warfare: Much evidence

of extensive warfare and conquest, particularly during

the later Olmec period (800 to 300 B.C.). There is

evidence of almost nonstop civil war.

If you read the Book of Ether, what are you

reading about? Nonstop civil war.

Building: Ceremonial centers

with pyramids and platforms often aligned on a

north-south axis (as is the case with La Venta), a

magnificent art style, huge amounts of earth were

moved for these mounds and other buildings that they

built, the most advanced culture in the Americas.

Their religion has been described by

archaeologists as “temple hierarchical” with

secret ceremonies and animal sacrifice.

There is evidence of shamanism mixed with or

perhaps opposed to communal ceremonies.

So we had two things going on here. We

had a very religious community, and we also

had mixed in with that a shamanistic

community. Again, read the Book of Ether.

That’s exactly what we find.

Jaguar men. There is evidence in the

Olmec culture of what scholars called the

jaguar men, and here are three examples of

these men. They interpret these to be a

combination of jaguar and men, and we heard

yesterday and again today about the role of

the jaguar in the Mayan culture. You can see

that it started here in the Olmec culture.

Some theories have shown that maybe this is

a serpent rather than a jaguar, and if so, these

might be some of the early representations of

the role of a serpent being a sacred animal. It

is possibly jaguar and serpent. We don’t really

know. There is a lot of work to be done in this

area, but I bring this up just to show you how

this is the mother culture that contributed

highly to later cultures.

Now let’s talk about what the Book of

Mormon requires and compare that with what

we find among the Olmecs from an

archaeological point of view. The Book of

Mormon requires that the following

parameters must exist:

We have to have a true civilization during the correct

time period (approximately 2000 to approximately

300 B.C.)

We have to have evidence of a written language.

We have to have evidence of large urban centers.

The land must be surrounded by seas.

It must have elaborate calendar systems.

Geographical landmarks such as: narrow neck of land

by the sea which divides the land north from the land

south.

Prominent hill (Ramah/Cumorah) with evidences of

ancient battles.

Anthropological traditions

that point to the culture.

First of all, what is a true civilization?

It is economically stratified, it has large

urban centers, it has a division of labor, which

means that not everyone is farming for

subsistence or food. We have leisure time to

do things such as art. We have extensive

trade, we have interstate relations, and we

have a centralized government.

Did the Jaredites have a true civilization according to

those definitions?

Here is a map [displays map] showing

the Papaloapan Water Basin It is a huge

water basin that we propose to be the waters

of Ripliancum. The waters of Ripliancum are

mentioned in Ether 15:8.

Written history. A written history of the Olmec

themselves comes from large

stone carved heads and carved stelae.

21 stone heads have been uncovered to

date, some weighing up to 20 tons. They were

carved out of basalt, and they were floated, at

least the theory is, from the Tuxtla Mountains

down into the La Venta area, which would be a

feat to accomplish today. They all show signs

of purposeful mutilation and battle. If they

represent kings who were conquered, those

heads may have been hauled off to the

conquering city, but they all show evidence of

being mutilated. Scholars agree that there

was constant warfare and probably civil war

between families.

Here are some of these stone heads, and

I know you have seen pictures of these.

[Displays artifact] This is an Olmec glyph that

is called Tres Zapotes.

[Displays another artifact] This is a

decapitated and defaced Olmec monument

that is typical of many that we have seen. It

has the ravages of extreme hatred in civil

wars. They seem to indicate the story of the

Olmecs.

This stela from La Venta (monument 12)

may tell the story of the ancestors of the

Olmec or perhaps the Jaredites. Here in this

glyph, there is a large sea monster attempting

to destroy a royal person, but to no avail. The

people are facing east, the direction from

whence they came. Compare this story to

Ether 6:10, “no monster of the sea could

break them, neither whale that could mar

them . . . .” It is at least a possibility.

Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl (1578-

1650). Considered by many to be the

“Josephus” of Mexico, amassed a great library

of records concerning the antiquities of preconquest

Mexico. He was born of Mayan

royalty and also Spanish royalty. His works

were published about 200 years before the

publishing of the Book of Mormon. He said he

had in his possession the ancient histories

handed down for many generations, plus he

had collected all the stories from old men.

Bringing together archaeology,

written history, and the scriptures.

Limhi Expedition 121 B.C.

Mosiah 8:7: 43 men were sent from the

land of Nephi to find the land of Zarahemla.

Mosiah 8:8: They came to a land of many

waters.

They discovered the remains of a

destroyed civilization. They initially thought it

was Zarahemla and that all of their relatives

had been killed. Then they realized later that

it wasn’t the case. They had discovered the

remains of an entirely different group of

people. Archaeology testifies to the remains

of an advanced civilization that was destroyed

through civil war about 300 B.C.

They lived in the North Country

Ether 1:1: Moroni referred to the place where the

Jaredites were destroyed as “this north country.”

Ixtlilxochitl called the area where the first people

lived “the Northern parts” of the land.

The ancient ruins of the Olmecs are located along

the Northern coast of Veracruz. Their last battle at

the hill Ramah would have been in the North Country.

They came from the tower.

Moroni wrote that Jared and his brother and their

families came from the Great Tower (Ether 1).

Ixtlilxochitl wrote that the first settlers came across

the ocean from the Great Tower.

Ixtlilxochitl confirms the Book of Mormon.

The great journey from the Tower of Babel

Book of Mormon: “And now I, Moroni, proceed to

give an account of those ancient inhabitants who were

destroyed by the hand of the Lord upon the face of

this north country.”

Ixtlilxochitl: “The first settlers populated a major

part of the land, and . . . more particularly, that which

lived along the northern part. They were destroyed

. . . and their civilization came to end.”

Book of Mormon: “And I take mine account from

the twenty and four plates which were found by the

people of Limhi, which is called the Book of Ether”

(Ether 1:1).

Ixtlilxochitl: “. . . of a truth, I have that ancient

history in my hand, and I know the language of the

[people] because I was raised with them, and I know

all the old men and the [stories] of this land. It has

cost me hard study and work, and I always speak the

truth on everything I have written.”

Book of Mormon: “Jared came forth with his

brother and their families, with some others and their

families, from the great tower, and the time the Lord

confounded the language of the people . . . (Ether 1:2).

Ixtlilxochitl: They built a [tower], very high and

strong . . . to protect themselves from the destruction

of the world. As time [occurred] their language

became confounded, such that they did not

understand one another and they were scattered to all

parts of the world.”

Book of Mormon: “And it came to pass that the

Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind

blown upon the face of the waters, towards the

Promised Land; and thus they were tossed upon the

waves of the sea before the wind . . . . And thus they

were driven forth; and no monster of the sea could

mar them . . . and the did land upon the shore of the

Promised Land” (Ether 6:5, 10, 12).

Ixtlilxochitl: “They came to this land, having first

crossed many lands and waters, living in caves and

passing great tribulations. Upon their arrival here,

they discovered that it was good and fertile land.”

Some critics argue that Ixtlilxochitl wrote that

from what he knew of Old Testament history.

BMAF 2004 Fall Conference 82

Jaredites = Olmecs?

Doug Christensen

Doug Christensen founded the Alma Success Academy (now called FUNDET) in Guatemala. He has

joined Richard Hauck, Bruce Warren, and Garth Norman on numerous archaeological field trips to

Mesoamerica. He has been a tour guide in Mesoamerica and Peru. Doug has an MBA from the University

of Utah. He served an LDS mission in England in 1961 and has served as a bishop and a high councilor.

He is currently an adult institute instructor of Book of Mormon curriculum. He is the father of eight